For the growing number of us who ride a bicycle in New Orleans, there is an extra item on our list of things to be thank­ful for this season: a dramat­ic expansion of the city's bike network in 2013. For a city that had few such accommodations 10 years ago, approaching 80 miles of bikeways by the end of this year is a spectacular achieve­ment. And in fact, all road users benefit from continuing imple­mentation of the city's Com­plete Streets Ordinance, as this approach has been widely shown to increase safety for everyone.

The growth of our bike net­work means it is becoming increasingly realistic for New Orleanians to bike to work, run errands or just ride for fun. In the process they are making themselves and their city health­ier. And there's more good news on tap for 2014, as the Lafitte Greenway gets set for a ground­breaking and the city studies the feasibility of bike sharing.

We thank Mayor Mitch Lan­drieu, the City Council and, espe­cially, the city's Department of Public Works for their work on this issue. At Bike Easy, we will continue to strive to make biking easier, safer and more fun. Let's make New Orleans the best place to ride a bike in America.